Potato batteries

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Transcript of Potato batteries

QuestionHow much electricity can a potato make?research

There are many types of batteries. Did you know you can even make potato batteries. Batteries are like containers that store energy. There are many different types of batteries but they all work when there is a chemical reaction that makes electricity. A chemical reaction occurs between two pieces of metal that we call electrodes and a liquid or paste called an electrolyte. The flow of electricity is called electrical current, which is measure in a unit called amperes (or amps for short). The symbol for amperes is A. A common analogy used for electrical current is to imagine water flowing through a pipe. The faster the water flows, the more current there is. In order to work, any type of battery needs to have electrodes moving through an electrolyte. Hypothesis I predict that a potato can act as a battery because the moisture inside a potato can act as the electrolyte that is needed to create electricity.graphPotato batteriesby:Evan Simont and BrandonhiHolaepic!!!!materials

potato open circuit voltage short circuit current lights the LED powers the buzzer1 0.5 0.3 no yes2 0 0.1 no yes3 0.2 0.3 no yes2 potatoes connected makes LED light and same with 3 potatoes

1. Insert the electrodes into the potato2. Measure the open and short circuit voltage of a single potato3. Investigate if a single potato can power a buzzer and LED4. Test two potato batteries in series5. Test two potato batteries in parallel6. Test three potato batteries in series7. Test three potatoes in parallel8. Analyze your data

procedureConclusion We saw that in the potato that each one had a different voltage. The smaller the potato the more voltage there is and the bigger the potato is the less voltage there is. When we put all the potatoes together the voltage was very high. The more moisture there is the more voltage there would be. The hypothesis was correct that the potato would hold voltage because of the moisture. One question we still have is how does the moisture make voltage?